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Neuheisel, UCLA Off To Good Start

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

PASADENA, Calif. - The game was a good debut for new UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, and only half bad for new quarterback Kevin Craft.

Neuheisel, a former UCLA quarterback hired to replace the fired Karl Dorrell, obviously was pleased with a 27-24 overtime victory against No. 18 Tennessee on Monday night, saying, "It was a thrill for me to be on the sidelines."

Craft, a third-stringer who got the starting job because the first two quarterbacks are injured, threw four first-half interceptions, then played almost flawlessly in the second.

A smiling Neuheisel said, "It's been a hard five years being away from college football. This is what I want to do."

He formerly coached at Colorado and Washington and was a Baltimore Ravens assistant before returning to UCLA.

"At one point an official said, 'Are you having fun?' I said, 'For an opening act, this is a lot of fun," Neuheisel said after the Bruins' win.

The game had a furious finish, with the Volunteers taking a 21-17 lead on Montario Hardesty's 20-yard run with 1:54 remaining, the Bruins going back in front on Craft's 3-yard TD pass to Ryan Moya with 27 seconds left, and Tennessee's Daniel Lincoln sending it into overtime with a 47-yard field goal as time expired.

After UCLA was unable to pick up a first down on its series in overtime, Kai Forbath kicked a 42-yard field goal. The Vols also couldn't get a first down, but Lincoln was wide left from 34 yards.

"It was amazing. You can't ask for a better start to the season than this," Craft said.

His transformation at halftime also was amazing.

After throwing the four interceptions, three right at defenders, and passing for just 66 yards in the first half, Craft went 18-of-25 for 193 yards and a touchdown in the second half - without an interception.

"It was just a matter of settling down," said Craft, a junior-college transfer who started five games for San Diego State in 2006. "I wasn't nervous at all. I just wasn't in a good rhythm. In the second half, I found it."

Vols coach Phillip Fulmer was impressed, saying, "He throws the ball extremely well. He threw four picks in the first half, but it didn't seem to faze him. He just executed very well in the second half."

The Bruins' defense held Tennessee to touchdown runs of 20 and 11 yards by Hardesty, and Lincoln's late field goal. The Vols' other score came on Nevin McKenzie's 61-yard return of a Craft interception.

Vols quarterback Jonathan Crompton finished 19-of-41 for 189 yards, with one interception, and Arian Foster carried 13 times for 96 yards.

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